With the move for Courtney Lee, I find that the Rockets now have a pretty balanced roster even on defense. With Lee, Lowry, Battier, Hayes, and Yao, we have at least one player at each position who's a top notch defender. Plus Scola is a good defender, although not a spectacular one. I'm thinking borderline top 10 defense next year, given Yao's health. But it seems this team just lack passers. Battier and Budinger for the most part play off the ball. Martin and Brooks are scorers. I don't know what's Lee's ceiling as a passer, but so far he's never been called upon to be a distributor. Scola and Yao are good enough passers in the post, but nowhere near Webber/Divac/prime-Miller's levels. The only good passer on this team is Lowry. I'm really curious about how our ball movement will be like to start season. Or hopefully Morey makes a splash... Andre Iguodala maybe?
Not so much passers, but what I'm concerned about is the teams overall lack of creators. Guys who can get their own shots and create for others. We've seen enough of Yao that I think it's fair to say that even if he comes back at full strength, we can't win by just pounding the ball inside while everyone else spots up for threes. He's not Dream. I'd love to see them trade for Iguodala. I posted in another thread a trade in which we'd send Jeffries, Hill and Bud for AI, along with the recently-acquired TPE and picks for Nocioni. I don't think Philly would bite, but it would probably take a deal like that, one in which a team takes on a bad contract (probably Brand), to get Iggy. I really like the guy though. In addition to being a plus defender and a legitimate point-forward, he just spent a year in Eddie Jordan's Princeton offense, so I think the transition for him coming here would be fairly easy. That said, at this point it's a pipe dream. I'm sure they'll go into the season and see what they have. It might not be an issue.
As im sure many other have noted, Adelman's system does not need a 'creator' per say. With a couple of ball dominant players (brooks, yao) i would seriously doubt the effectiveness of say an igouldala, espically if it comes at the expense at some our core players.
Yet both Morey and Adelman have been on record saying the Rockets need more playmaking on the floor. It also doesn't help that Brooks can't run the pick and roll which is like being a "creator" by numbers.
But last year AB and Scola were doing pretty great at the end of the year running the pick and roll, even when they inserted Hill from time to time he was getting free dunks with passes from Brooks. I think the problem with our pick & roll isn't Brooks lack of being creative, its our big men's lack of being mobile. Hill can move better than Scola and finish stronger with his athleticism plus Scola isn't a pick & roll type player, he's a back to the basket post up power forward. And to answer the OP we don't need a "passer" didn't you watch last year? Everyone was a passer. And when it all comes down to it, all they have to do is pass it to Yao. :grin:
The Rockets actually have a Point Center in Brad Miller. Scola is a decent passer and Yao is a ok passer as well though his passing is overrated on this board!
If I recall correctly, Adelman's team did not become a contender until they acquired Mike Bibby - a very good creator.
Scola was considered clearly THE BEST Pick&Roll expert in Europe, just look for videos of him playing alongside Prigioni (the Pg of his euro team)... Btw, he knows the moves so well, that he's great at breaking rival's P&R moves... I seriously doubt he'd be the one to blame in lack of P&R scoring by the Rockets....
Though we addressed the length issue, athleticism and shotblocking is still needed. As for the creator issue, Aaron Brooks has the capability to become that - Allen Iverson 2.0, maybe?
First, Scola is not good at Pick and Roll, now.....Scola just decent at passing? Scola is a better passer than Brooks, it's not his fault that the ball is more on Brooks hands due to ballhandling and speed issues, but when he has the oportunity, he has showed far more passing skillls and court vision than Brooks. Please analyze the games when you watch them, and tell us how many times you'd see Scola ignoring wide open team mates like Brook does...
Ariza proved to be a pretty underrated passer last season. 4.4 assists per game after the all star break, 3.8 on the year. Not an assist total you see many small forwards producing. I think his height and length helps him getting passes around the defense. Lee and Shane just aren't active enough on offense to rack up assists (i.e., the kind of passes that lead to easy baskets). It's hard when you're just camping at the three point line. At least Shane can make a good entry pass. With as much as I like Martin, his assist totals are really weak. You'd think his quickness would allow him to get his teammates some easy baskets, but that's not the case. He only got about two assists per game and that's pretty much been the story of his career. He really is only good at making plays for himself, not for others. This leaves pretty much all of the play-making ability on Brook's shoulders. A guy I think is one of the worst passers on the team in terms of decision making and execution. So yeah, I think the answer is we could user a better playmaker/passer on the wing.
Wasn't comparing Scola and Brooks. That's not a fair comparison as the two play distinctly different roles on the team. The debate is between Scola and Yao, who is the better passer. I don't think the guy I responded to has solid stats to back up his assertion that Scola is a decidedly better passer than Yao.
This is the biggest reason I don't like the Lee-Ariza trade. We are giving up passing for lux tax dollars basically. Good financial move, bad team move. But Morey really wanted Lee i guess. we still feel like a one-on-one club. It's not that guys are unwilling to pass, I just don't think they are very good at it.
You are right. And also, the pnr was the staple play between Manu and Scola in the Argentine national team. Scola is also very good at finding the spaces around the painted area to make himself open to score but the lack of a good passer, from Alston to Brooks, has not exploited this strength in Scola's game. Brooks is just not a good passer due, perhaps, to his poor court vision, and/or maybe he just has the scorer's instinct instead of a pg's. I wonder if he has learned to make an entry pass to the post now that Yao is back. The OP may have touched on something which bears watching as the season unfolds.
I think our biggest need is an athletic defensive four who gobbles up rebounds, blocks shots all over the place and gets his points via cleanup. Hopefully Jordan Hill will turn into that. We also have built a tremendous system filled with players who can thrive off a dominant post center. If Yao is a question mark, we need to start grooming a replacement. I still think we need to dump a lot of assets into a Mark Gasol or Brook Lopez type player via trade.
The most highly coveted type of player in the NBA, a shot blocking athletic big. And we don't have one.
Good post, good thought. I'd agree that the Rockets lack facilitators. Lowry is the best at setting up others individually. I think Adleman's emphasis on team passing is the key. Rather than depend on a still-living Tracy to create for others, the game plan is for quick selfless passing as a team. We saw a lot of that pushed last year, and we were very successful with it in Nov....followed by sticky hand syndrome by the holidays (Landry, Brooks, Trevor being the main culprits) and a subsequent slump. I think we'll see the same this year. Martin's not a playmaker. You find him with space and he makes a strong move for his shot/foul bait. Chase, Shane, Miller, and Scola are spot up guys. Lee is a back door cutter. Hill is an offensive tip in guy. Yao is Yao. Brooks and Lowry are predominantly slashers. In all cases, a pass-pass-pass-scoring move system should work. You don't think Hill qualifies?
